Marriott allows you to transfer 60K points into 25K airline miles or 27.5K United miles, so that means card earnings effectively went from 1.25 airline miles per dollar (25K miles/$20,000 spending) to 0.833 airline miles per dollar (25K miles/$30,000 spending) or 0.917 United miles per dollar (27.5K miles/$30,000 spending) after the devaluation.

Marriott said they made up for that by providing a free annual 35K night, but that ignores the fact that the beauty of Starpoints was in their versatility of being used for hotels or airlines, it ignores the fact that you don’t need to spend to earn that, it ignores the fact that the annual free night has an expiration date, and it ignores the fact that the annual free night is limited to hotels costing 35K points or less and you can’t upgrade it to a higher category hotel. Effectively my card was downgraded from the front of my wallet to the back of my sock drawer.

The card is now the Marriott Bonvoy Consumer AMEX and is no longer available to new cardholders (You can still apply for the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card and the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Consumer Card). If you had the card before 1/24/19 you can register via the link above to earn 25K bonus points for spending $25K in 2019 from the time that you register for the bonus. You can also get another 25K point bonus for spending $50K, another 25K point bonus for spending $75K, and another 25K point bonus for spending $100K in 2019.

The max bonus is 100K points, so if you spend $100,000 between 2/24-12/31 on the card, you would earn 200,000 base points plus 100,000 points with this promo, for a total of 300,000 Marriott points.

With this promotion, you can go back to earning 1.25 airline miles per dollar spent (or 1.375 United miles per dollar spent), with the caveat that you’ll only be at that level if you spend exactly $25K, $50K, or $75K, or $100K from the time you register for the promo until 12/31/19.

I value Marriott points at about 0.75 cents each, so this increases the subjective rebate value per dollar spent from 1.5 cents to 2.25 cents.

Of course if you only want airline miles or non-Marriott hotel points, you can do much better that that.

Another big advantage that banks have over Marriott is that their mileage transfers to airlines typically happen instantly, while point transfers from Marriott may take anywhere from 2 days to 6 weeks….

Marriott continues to devalue their program and they haven’t dealt with their customers honestly as you read about here,here,here,here,and here. Hotels are also playing more games with award availability than ever. Marriott has continually eroded the goodwill from SPG loyalists that they had when the merger process started by taking the low road time and time again.

On the flip side, this offer once again offers the prized SPG versatility to choose between earning 1.25 miles per dollar spend on far more airline transfer partners than other credit cards offer, like Aegean, Alaska, American, and Lufthansa, or to use the points for Marriott hotel stays, or throwing out the first pitch of game 7 of the World Series 😉

In the end I’m torn. I certainly don’t trust Marriott like I did SPG. Is it worth investing $25K/$50K/$75K/$100K of spending with them when there are other options that now earn more miles per dollar from companies that don’t have a trust deficit? Or is the Marriott versatility that this offer brings back worth investing in anyway?

The entire question of whether this offer is worthwhile is only if you will exactly spend $25K/$50K/$75K/$100K. If you spend anything lower than or in between those thresholds, the entire proposition loses its value.

Will AMEX run this promotion again next year? That’s another open question and will likely depend on how successful it is in bringing spending back to this card, which has likely cratered since the merger.

For those that Chase kicked out for good (but for no reason) and are looking for ways to earn United miles it’s a good opportunity

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February 24, 2019 2:16 pm

Dan

Nothing is ever for good, but you are correct, this is a good method to earn United miles for people that can’t currently use Chase cards.

However it’s a bad method to earn United miles for people that can use Chase cards.

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February 24, 2019 2:17 pm

Fidel

I think yes for good, unfortunately I am a victim and have tried opening a card after 3 years bring shut, but after 2 months they closed it again with no given reason or notice – I didn’t violate any of the terms… Adaraba gimme some advise how can get Chase cards?

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February 24, 2019 2:23 pm

Dan

Do research on DDF.

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February 24, 2019 2:28 pm

Pghtown

Another huge downside to Marriott points is that transfers to airlines takes weeks!. My last transfer to United took 2 weeks to complete. Can kiss out on award availability with such a delay. I am out.

I have an opportunity to spend 100k for a business to swipe my card for the points and they will pay before the due date. I think with your link it really makes it worth it. Thank you Dan for looking out for us and helping us maximize our cc spend.

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February 24, 2019 2:21 pm

Dan

Never ever swipe for someone else unless you have the cash in hand before swiping!

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February 24, 2019 2:23 pm

Jeff B

Obviously I don’t have the cash, I will use the cash from points sale to build up my cash reserves and then invest in real estate

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February 24, 2019 2:44 pm

Scam Alert

Perfect timing to bring it up.
Just ask around in shul, in the past week two scammers – wealthy businessmen, have been exposed leaving many with bills as high as 350k.
Scammers were initially going to swipe only 10k per month, but in the last month of the scheme maxed it out on all.
The damage to the community is in the millions!!
@Dan please post about this to create more awareness.

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February 24, 2019 3:18 pm

Tzviki

Jeff B.

I hope your comment was just to get a response from Dan. You might just have you head in the sand and not realize that many people are currently facing bankruptcy as a result of the brilliant idea you have.

Starwood points were the best for mileage flights to Israel. 45K Aegean miles to fly Staralliance Business class to Europe — only beaten by Alitalia 80K Roundtrip in BUsiness Class (but much more limited options since it has to be on AZ metal)

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February 24, 2019 2:30 pm

Dan

You can still transfer Marriott to Aegean with a 60K:25K ratio.

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February 24, 2019 2:34 pm

weiss

aegean has start closing accounts for no reason

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May 5, 2019 12:28 pm

ll

ElAl has much better availability to TLV when using points than United does. And the premium/business rewards using Qantas is much better.
For someone who spend lots on sports tickets using the Citi premier card. Get 2 TY points per dollar.

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February 24, 2019 4:02 pm

EJF

I was a huge SPG fan. When the writing was on the wall i moved my 200000 SPG to Virgin w 10K bonus, showed my 50k virgin points to jet blue, traveled during their 75k promo for each of us and then moving the virgin points to alaska with a 30% bonus. Turned the 200k SPG points into nearly 800K points on jet blue and virgin for me and the family and have never looked back. Marriott points are awful in my opinion. Much prefer Chase and Amex. Now going to get the 300K points with capital one on last promo for $50k spend by paying for home reno and daughters bat mitzvah, etc. I will take advantage of specific hotel points promos for ihg, hilton and hyatt as i see them to supplement credit card points but i do miss the old Starwood program, it was the best.

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February 24, 2019 2:34 pm

Dan

The murder of SPG is a massive loss indeed.
But I still mourn the losses of Airtran, Continental, and Northwest.

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February 24, 2019 2:36 pm

reb yid

How do you pay for home reno and bat mitzvah with points? Aren’t those industries usually cash-only?

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February 24, 2019 4:18 pm

reb yid

Sorry, I mean how do you pay with CC

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February 24, 2019 4:26 pm

EJF

Heating-AC guy takes CC as does blinds and curtain vendor. home depot (i split btwn chase points 5 for 1$ at staples got home depot gift cards and capital one). Many vendors take cc. On bat mitzvah, plane tix and accommodations for 6 people. Party favors and some vendors also take cc. Just put monthly tuition payments, cell phones, cable also on cap 1. And wull also pay for kids summer camp.

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February 24, 2019 4:42 pm

reb yid

Thank you. I have some of those coming up and appreciate the advice.

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February 24, 2019 5:22 pm

afan

so how much profit did you make doing these 3 way transfer? assuming spg was worth 2 cpp then how many alaska did you wind up with becuase you transferred 200k spg and what was alaska worth then

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February 24, 2019 5:06 pm

EJF

For a family of five, the 200k starpoins turned into 250k virgin points bc of 10k bonus. With a qualifying flight on jet blue 75k per person was earned on jet blue.
Virgin 250K
Jet blue 375k

The virgin miles became approx 340k miles with a 30% bonus when Alaska bought virgin.

So 200k spg
Became
340k on alaska
375k on jet blue

If u study dan, u will see the best ways to use points on jet blue and alaska. Both are amazing airlines, they have great routes, partners, etc.

I value alaska miles bc i status matched for alaska mvp status when i used a promo from american giving me 3 mos of elite status at a time i was not elite (i also status matched for jet blue mosaic).

I still have over a million points between amex and chase plus soon on cap 1 which rounds out how i need to use points for my family.

But back to original question, no matter how u slice values, the 200k spg points into the over 700k of airlines points between jet blue and Alaska was a no brainer for me. And the final point is that the 3:1 marriot point value blows as does most of what marriott did to the best parts if spg.

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February 24, 2019 5:48 pm

afan

thank you for the response

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February 24, 2019 7:58 pm

farmbochur

I’ll register but avoid putting spend on it unless I get targeted for Amex offers, spend bonuses, or authorized user bonuses. Then come Thanksgiving, I’ll re-evaluate if it’s worth pushing for $25k.

Based on past experience, opportunities abound during the holiday season so I feel no rush to shift spend to the card till then.

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February 24, 2019 2:35 pm

Rachel

It just took me 6 weeks to transfer some Marriott points to an airline partner! They said that is how long you can expect with all the merges…

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February 24, 2019 2:40 pm

Dan

Crazy, which partner was that?

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February 24, 2019 4:34 pm

Ty

Had that too recently. Transferred to united and took over 5 weeks

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February 24, 2019 5:48 pm

Me

How is the Marriot rewards program more versatile than chase UR travel redemptions with the CSR @ 1.5c/pp anywhere?

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February 24, 2019 2:48 pm

UR

If the cash price is way more miles than redeeming for a mileage ticket.

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February 24, 2019 3:29 pm

Dan

Miles aren’t pegged to actual costs, which means you can get outsized value.

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February 24, 2019 4:34 pm

SPG Lover

Considering the death of SPG and difficulty of attaining a heap of Marriott points. How else do you recommend getting Marriott points for future stays?

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February 24, 2019 2:50 pm

Dan

Use CSR points and don’t be brand loyal?

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February 24, 2019 4:34 pm

Mendy

What happens if I register and than upgrade to the brilliant card

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February 24, 2019 3:02 pm

Dan

Good question.

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February 24, 2019 4:33 pm

James

Pushed from the back of the sock drawer vto the incinerator

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February 24, 2019 3:34 pm

It also ignored the fact that....

They’ve now switched tons of category 5 hotels (35,000) to category 6, effectively defeating their own argument that they’re compensating the 33% devaluation by upping the free hotel night.

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February 24, 2019 3:39 pm

Yossi Fisch

With all the sad stuff that happened to SPG I still love my Marriot points, it gives me a huge selection of high end hotels that I think no other program can offer. Other cards are better for airline travel but which card is better for hotels? Chase to Hyatt is no where near the Marriot selection.

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February 24, 2019 3:54 pm

Dan

Hilton has cards good for Hilton hotels.
But a Chase Quinfecta strategy will earn you between 2.25%-7.5% back at any hotel you want.

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February 24, 2019 4:33 pm

SoWhat

I guess I don’t understand. If you’re going to stay at a Marriott hotel, the Marriott card will always give you a better return than chase. Not as good as spg but better than chase.

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February 24, 2019 4:03 pm

Dan

Which Chase card are you talking about?

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February 24, 2019 4:32 pm

SoWhat

Any. If I’m using Marriott points at a Marriott hotel, that’s going to give me a better deal on the redemption than what I could get from Chase, using Chase points, and I have Freedom Unlimited and SR, among others.

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February 24, 2019 6:42 pm

Chase vs. Marriott

Not necessarily. Perfect example is staying at a beach front (or any seasonal place) during off peak season. Marriott points remain the same or may go down 5,000 points from 50,000 to 45,000, while the price of the hotel is only $229 after taxes. Using your CPR, that’s only 15,333 points compared to 45,000 Marriott points. You can find similar results with many other times

Reply

February 24, 2019 11:26 pm

sd

how long is the transfer time between marriott and united?

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February 24, 2019 4:13 pm

Ty

5+ weeks!!!!!

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February 24, 2019 5:49 pm

Sam

So you value Marriott points at 0.75 cents each. How does that compare to other credit card/airline points? How much do you value in monetary terms Chase UR points, AMEX MR points, CapitalOne miles, United miles, etc.?

Reply

February 24, 2019 4:15 pm

Dan

Mileage value is highly subjective, which if why I typically don’t write about it. My value won’t be your value, but you should figure out what your value is.

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February 24, 2019 4:32 pm

JoeG

If I spend 100K on shipping I will be getting 5 points per dollar?

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February 24, 2019 4:27 pm

Dan

Shipping is not a bonus category on this card.

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February 24, 2019 4:31 pm

Mordechai K

Is this per card or account ?

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February 24, 2019 4:52 pm

Dl

I was just able to successfully register my Bonvoy Brilliant card for this using the link

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February 24, 2019 7:25 pm

Jill

I’m still getting an error message that I’m not targeted for this promotion

Reply

February 24, 2019 9:11 pm

Paron

I have the Brilliant card and the link worked for me. Will the extra points actually post on this card?

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February 24, 2019 10:17 pm

Mordechai

I just tried signing up for the promo but got this message “This page is temporarily unavailable.
We’re sorry. Our systems are currently unavailable and we are unable to enroll your Card at this time. Please try again later.
Thank you for your interest in this promotion and for your continued Card Membership.”

Reply

February 25, 2019 9:34 am

sholey klein

I registered for the promo, Thanks! Would spending last month count towards the 25k?

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February 25, 2019 11:02 am

Mootkim

getting this message:
We’re sorry. This promotion is only open to invited Card Members.

Thank you for your interest in this promotion and for your continued Card Membership.

If you are a solicited Card Member and are responding to the offer you received by direct mail or e-mail, and are registered to manage your account online, enter your user ID and password.

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February 25, 2019 12:51 pm

JW

I know everyone is hating on this deal but I’m not and I’ll tell you why.

1) I use this card for Bonvoy hotel spending anyway (6x) and I use Marriott hotels frequently for business travel so I’m going to put $10K-$15K on this card this year anyway (so the incremental or extra $10K-$15K to hit $25K in total is the only part of spend I might redirect to a different general spending card)

2) I appreciate Dan mentioning that United offers the 10% bonus from Bonvoy but don’t forget they also offer transfer bonuses from time to time so there was a 30% bonus in the fall. That brought down the ratio to 60,000 Bonvoy Points = 35,750 United Miles

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February 25, 2019 3:28 pm

Dan

Don’t forget that the UA bonus is always limited though.

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February 25, 2019 3:30 pm

mm

im not sure I got u if I do have the card and use it anyway is there any reason not to register?

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February 25, 2019 4:06 pm

SSL

I have 292,500 old SPG points which they changed into 972,396. I only use mileage for economy class to Israel. What is my best deal?

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February 25, 2019 7:56 pm

Helen

I’m still getting this message: We’re sorry. This promotion is only open to invited Card Members.
Very frustrating because I’d love to sign up for when I do use this this card, which is not too often anymore but maybe I will when I need return or purchase protection which Chase doesn’t give so easily.

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February 26, 2019 12:09 am

Ricardo

Was this supposed to be an universal promotion or targeted? I did not have the link in my offers, nor I can sign from your link. My understanding was that for this year everybody would have this benefit.

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February 26, 2019 9:14 am

philco

It doesn’t appear universal. I should qualify and didn’t get the offer either though maybe they are staggering the deployment. Honestly I’d rather get the business card offer that is floating around but didn’t get that one either. This despite very large spend on both cards up until the devaluation in earning last year. Somebody on FT said they got a CSR to add it to their account but I’d hate to spend 25k on this card only to find the CSR didn’t do it or whatever. At the end of the day I find the consumer card offer pretty borderline so if Amex doesn’t want to give me the offer I am happy to put the spend on various 1.5x or better cards I have (including another Amex I have). No harm or foul.

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February 26, 2019 11:22 am

matovu

I’m still getting this message: We’re sorry. This promotion is only open to invited Card Members.
Very frustrating because I’d love to sign up for when I do use this this card, which is not too often anymore but maybe I will when I need return or purchase protection which Chase doesn’t give so easily.

Reply

March 14, 2019 5:10 pm

Dan

See the post update.

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April 7, 2019 2:39 pm

BB

From the email i got from Amex it definitely did not sound that you had to spend exactly 25,000. Rather anything over that till 50,000 etc would count. which really makes a lot more sense

Reply

April 7, 2019 2:59 pm

Dan

You get the 25K bonus for hitting $25K, $50K, $75K, and $100K

Reply

April 7, 2019 3:00 pm

menachem

Seems like they extended the deadline. Maybe bc it’s not allowing people to register.
“Register your Card by May 31, 2019 and earn up to 100K bonus points”

I can fly to TLV in biz for 43k Aegean miles, or fly to HKG and then onto TLV or JNB at a later date in biz for a total of 60k Cathay miles. Even without the promotion, the return on spend on the devalued SPG card beats Chase for this kind of travel.

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April 7, 2019 3:45 pm

weiss

i am also not allowed to rgister – hope that it will be fixed
the offer on the biz card is only targeted ?

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April 7, 2019 5:37 pm

Texas Totty

I was targeted but when I log into my account via the link, I get a blank page.

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April 7, 2019 8:04 pm

jong

link finally worked after months of trying:

You are now registered. Use your Card now through December 31, 2019 and you can earn up to 100,000 bonus points after you spend $100,000 in eligible purchases on your registered Marriott BonvoyTM American Express® Card. Terms and Conditions apply.

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April 11, 2019 3:25 pm

Yehuda

If I spend on one of the authorized user cards, does it count towards the 25k bonus?

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April 29, 2019 4:37 pm

Israel

I finally got the email and worked for me.

Reply

May 8, 2019 6:55 pm

Helen

I want to be registered just so I know I have the option to use this promo if I’d like to, however every the link in my emails don’t work. Got another one today reminding me that I only have until 5/31 and when I click on Register Now button I get this error: This page isn’t working If the problem continues, contact the site owner.
HTTP ERROR 400

I contacted Amex via chat last week and the rep said she enrolled me but I never got an email confirming I was enrolled like my husband did last month and I still keep getting reminders telling me to enroll. I obviously don’t want to put spend on this card unless I get the bonus points. This is very frustrating.

Reply

May 22, 2019 12:53 pm

Jerry

BTW, when I clicked the “Register” link in the email, I got an error message about technical issues. However, after logging in to my account, the same offer showed up at the top of my “Amex Offers & Benefits” section.

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